seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
1 Samuel 2:27 Now a man of God came to Eli and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Did I not clearly reveal myself to your ancestor’s family when they were in Egypt under Pharaoh? 28 I chose your ancestor out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod in my presence. I also gave your ancestor’s family all the food offerings presented by the Israelites. 29 Why do you scorn my sacrifice and offering that I prescribed for my dwelling? Why do you honor your sons more than me by fattening yourselves on the choice parts of every offering made by my people Israel?’
30 “Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I promised that members of your family would minister before me forever.’ But now the Lord declares: ‘Far be it from me! Those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained. 31 The time is coming when I will cut short your strength and the strength of your priestly house, so that no one in it will reach old age, 32 and you will see distress in my dwelling. Although good will be done to Israel, no one in your family line will ever reach old age. 33 Every one of you that I do not cut off from serving at my altar I will spare only to destroy your sight and sap your strength, and all your descendants will die in the prime of life.
34 “‘And what happens to your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, will be a sign to you—they will both die on the same day. 35 I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in my heart and mind. I will firmly establish his priestly house, and they will minister before my anointed one always. 36 Then everyone left in your family line will come and bow down before him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread and plead, “Appoint me to some priestly office so I can have food to eat.”’”
Yep I think we will need to read the commentary.Why do you kick at My sacrifice: It would have been easy for Eli to say, “I’m not doing it! My sons are!” But Eli had a double accountability for his sons, both as a father (though this was diminished because the sons were adults), and as the High Priest. His sons “worked” for him as priests, and Eli was a bad “boss.”
And honor your sons more than Me: Since Eli did not correct his sons the way he should, he essentially preferred them to the LORD. If Eli were more afraid of offending God and less afraid of offending his sons he would have corrected them as he should have.
‘I said indeed that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever’; but now the LORD says: God promised that the priestly line would not stay with Eli and his descendants but would pass to another line of descendants from Aaron. This was fulfilled many years later, in Solomon’s day. Abiathar (from Eli’s family) was deposed as high priest and replaced with Zadok (who was from another family).
Now this shall be a sign to you: Since the fulfillment of the judgment would be many years away (in the days of Solomon), God gave Eli an immediate sign to demonstrate His truthfulness. Eli’s sons will die in one day; Eli will see this and know the judgment of God has come against his house.
Everyone who is left in your house will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver: This is a fitting judgment, since much of the sin of Eli’s sons was greed and stealing from God’s people. Instead of receiving the priestly portions that were rightfully theirs, Eli’s family would one day be reduced to begging.
OK... being a priest was not all incense and verses. A priest had to heft a bull on to an altar and slice its throat. I don't care how you tie a bull down... it's still not going to just let you slice its throat. It's going to take a lot of work to pull that bull up so the blood can drain. It's going to take a lot of work to burn that bull. Then it's going to take muscle to portion it out. I'm old... I know... Picking up a shopping bag of roasts is a chore... Can you imagine spending your day shoving whole carcasses on and off of the altar?
Being a priest was a dangerous job. Being a priest called into the Holy of Holies required the priest to put a rope around his body... in case he did it wrong and God struck him dead. The others could use the rope to pull the dead priest out.
But in the days of Eli and his sons, Hophni and Phinehas, it was a family job.
God promised that Levites from Aaron's family would be priests. God built their bodies so they could handle the heavy load and the stress of danger.
They ripped God off. God sent a messenger to Eli. Eli wasn't going to head the priestly job forever. To show the messenger from God was telling the truth... God gave Eli a sign to watch for. What a horrible sign it would be.
The messenger said "both" of Eli's sons would die in one day.
Eli didn't want to upset his sons... so, he was lenient. Eli didn't care if he upset God... after all God promised they would be priests forever!
Aaron's family would be priests forever.... not necessarily Eli's family....
Eli figured he and his sons would live a long, long, long, life because they were the priests.
They thought they could get away with theft and rape.
God said sent a message to Eli and his sons.
You're fired!
